The Association organises annual congresses, e-seminars and continuing medical education (CME) courses, and supports fellowships.

The early history of ERA began in the 1960s when nephrologists Stanley Shaldon, William Drukker and David Kerr predicted that the future of nephrology would require more activity in the technical aspects of treating humans, rather than just academic interest and animal research.

[1] In 1981, with the evolution of clinical nephrology and with the idea of including all the specialties linked to nephrology that were growing rapidly, the society changed its name from European Dialysis Transplantation Association (EDTA) to European Dialysis Transplantation Association-European Renal Association (EDTA-ERA).

The ERA Registry compares disease patterns and their treatment in member countries, studies treatment outcomes, carries out analyses where patient numbers in individual national and regional KRT registries are small, and builds up a demographic picture of KRT within the member countries.

In addition, the ERA Registry performs focused studies using data from a segment of the catchment population to answer specific questions.